You might be wondering how we choose which ports to visit and, more importantly, where to “park” Patronus for the night.  In addition to the internet, we have three “cruising guides” for the New England area: The Cruising Guide to the New England Coast, Dozier’s Waterway Guide: Northern 2011, and A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast.  We also have Cruising At Last, by Elliot Merrick, which is a memoir of Merrick’s years of cruising the east coast with his wife.  It includes lovely descriptions of sailing as well as the ports.  I find them romantic and inspiring, even though the harbor details are outdated and cannot be used as a guide.

The cruising guides list each port in order, from South to North.  They give general information about each port, explaining the approaches, listing the anchoring/mooring/docking options, and describing the availability of other facilities, such as water, diesel, pumpouts, electric, groceries, ice, laundry, showers, and repairs.  They often list points of interest, such as museums, restaurants, tours, hikes, and other things to do.

When planning our trip, Chris and I talked incessantly about where we wanted to go.  In New England, Newport, Gloucester, Wellfleet, and Bar Harbor were all high on the “must-do” list.  We both grew up boating in the waters between New Jersey and Massachusetts, so we are reasonably familiar with the options.  The next step involved charting distances between ports to make sure we were planning reasonable trips.  This was especially important for the first part of the trip, because we do not want to overwhelm the children with long, exhausting passages that may sour them to the voyage before it even begins.  Hurricane season lasts until November 1^st, so we are not in a rush.  We have until then to get to Beaufort, North Carolina, the jumping off point for Bermuda.  We cannot leave for Bermuda until then because our boat insurance policy dictates that we stay out of the “hurricane box” until the season is over.

If you go to the “Floatplan” page, you will see our itinerary through the beginning of September and a very loose idea of where will be for the remainder of the year.  As we settle into a groove, we will have more time to sit down and night and do research so that we can fill in some of the empty spots.  Once we have our floatplan “set”, we will still need to remain flexible.  Weather, boat repairs, and other unexpected delays could all throw a wrench into our plans (get it?).  In addition, we may fall in love with a place and decide to stay longer, causing us to modify the plan.

For the next few weeks, we would like to spend as much time in Maine as possible.  Once we return from our year-long trip, it will be unlikely that we will have an opportunity like this to explore Maine’s gorgeous coast for an extended period of time.  So we’ve been talking to locals, poring over the cruising guides, and using our charts to figure out ways to plot our path.  From Marblehead and Gloucester, the next obvious place to visit was Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Portsmouth is a city that has many amenities.  We knew we would be able to get fuel and water.  We also knew we would be able to find lots of places to explore.  Portsmouth is 36 miles from Gloucester, a nice day’s sail.  The cruising guides suggested several places to get a mooring, but anchoring is not much of an option.  We called ahead to the Portsmouth Yacht Club to reserve a mooring because of their location near the mouth of the river, near the downtown, and the availability of fuel and water.

storms acoming…

You can read about our downwind run from Gloucester to Portsmouth in Chris’ blog.  After approaching the Portsmouth Yacht Club, on the Piscataqua River, we docked in a heavy current and completed a two hour wash down of Patronus.  As we were finishing, I banged my head hard on the boom.  I saw stars and had to sit down for a while.  We fueled up before heading to our mooring and then came into the yacht club for showers.  We met a lovely family on a catamaran who have been living aboard and sailing between Maine and the Bahamas for six years!  Their daughter was lovely and we hope to catch up with them as we head Down East.

After dinner, we prepared the boat for a heavy thunderstorm.  The heaviest part of the storm passed to the east of us, so we dealt with high winds and rain, but mostly we sat in the covered cockpit enjoying the thunder and lightning show.  I was relieved to see that Porter’s previous fear of lightning has disappeared.

The next day (July 18), we took the dinghy to Prescott Park, passing the Naval Shipyard, which was built in 1800!  They were working on a submarine, which was very cool to see.  We spent the whole day at Strawberry Banke, an outdoor museum.  The museum was a restored village with original homes from Portsmouth dating back to the 1700’s.  We really enjoyed touring each building and watching demonstrations of pottery making, colonial cooking, and children’s games.

pocket shutters. beautiful.

Some of the houses were set up to show the processes used in homebuilding back then, so they had areas of exposed lathe and plaster, framing, and foundations.  Chris really enjoyed those exhibits.  As usual, I spent most of the day texting pictures of cool architectural details to Steffanie, with whom I share this passion.  My favorite detail remains the pocket window shutters.  I am totally doing that in our house someday.

a favorite demonstration: the very charismatic potter

We had a lobster roll lunch at Geno’s, which was within walking distance of the museum.  It was right on the water and everything was simple and authentic.  I fought the urge to get the blueberry pie for dessert.  I’m holding out for the real thing: blueberry pie from Maine (a technicality, because, if I was better at throwing, I could have thrown a blueberry pie to Maine from Geno’s, as the Piscataqua River divides New Hampshire and Maine.)

flailing in the current

When we got back to the boat, I insisted on doing my daily swim, despite the fact that the Piscataqua River has the second swiftest river current in the United States, and we were currently at max ebb.  I donned my wetsuit, we set out a safety line, and I amused my shipmates as I attempted to swim four strokes before being sent down the river.  I had to grab the safety line and pull with all my might to get back to the boat.  I tried several more times, but I was getting more of a workout by pulling myself back to the boat than by flailing my arms and legs in a panic while swimming.  Watch and laugh here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjskhoGHlBU

bardwell and conway children

We were excited that our friends, the Bardwells, could visit us here.  Michael, Patty, and their children Madison and Peyton, are from Georgia, but they were in nearby Salisbury Beach, visiting Michael’s parents for the week.  They brought Michael’s father and brother-in-law along for the ride, so it was fun and festive to have everyone on the boat for a nice visit.

We headed back to the downtown area for dinner at the Old Ferry Landing restaurant and ice cream, of course.  We were torn about where to go.  We had had recommendations to two places.  It seems that my penchant for ice cream has become a bit of a well-known fact.  Michael had heard that Izzy’s was good and the launch operator at PYC suggested Annabelle’s.  Well folks, history was made that night.  Annabelle’s seemed like a good old typical harbor town ice cream place, but it was THE BEST ICE CREAM I HAVE EVER HAD.  I have no idea what anyone else had, because I was in such a state of heavenly bliss with my Toffee Heath Bar Ice Cream that it was all I saw, smelled, felt, and tasted for a good 15 minutes.  And if ice cream made sound, it would have been all I listened to, as well.  For me to say it was the best I’ve ever had is not one of my typical overstatements or exaggerations.  If I could only have one ice cream for the rest of my life, this would be it.  Not Carvel.  I know.  Shocking.  Not even Haagen Dazs.  Even more incredible.

So basically, all you really need to know about Portsmouth is- Go to Annabelle’s Ice Cream Shop.

thistle…so pretty

Bryson finds a secret door

Porter enjoys a super-fast dinghy ride

Reese pretends to cook over an open fire

a war-time general store

Bryson figured out what it is. Can you?

porter at the restored village

A view of Gloucester’s harbor entrance from my run

We sailed from a town with a long history of yachting to the quintessential fishing town of the northeast.  I was expecting Gloucester to be a different world.  I was thinking about the movie The Perfect Storm, which was set in Gloucester and based on the “Andrea Gail”, the boat lost in that wicked storm (the title of this post is from the movie, btw).  But I was also thinking about the movie “Mystic Pizza” for some reason, and the down-to-earth way of life on the docks.  I was even a little intimidated, thinking that maybe sailors would be looked down upon by the hard-working fishermen here, for which boating is not recreation, but a way of life.

The Gloucester Welcome Wagon/Boat

I could not have been more wrong.  From the moment we hailed the Harbormaster on the VHF, to the moment we left the harbor two days later, we were surrounded by lovely and helpful people.  After getting our mooring, which was only $25 for the night, the Harbormaster came alongside Patronus to say hello and give us a welcome packet to the town.  He ended up staying for 20 minutes, telling the kids what it is like to be a Harbormaster and giving us directions on where to go for dinner, where to tie up the dinghy, and where to find the best beaches.

We dinked into the Rocky Neck area and Chris spotted “Hard Merchandise”, the fishing boat featured in the National Geographic television show “Wicked Tuna”.  He was duly excited and I snapped some pictures.  It struck me how ironic it was that we were taking paparazzi pictures in the least “Hollywood” place imaginable.  We had trouble finding a place to tie up.  The docks towered 30 feet above us and are meant for major fishing boats, not inflatable dinghies.  We finally took a chance and tied up to the floating dock behind a deserted restaurant.

Once on hard ground, we discovered ourselves in the middle of the artist colony for which we had come searching.  Streets and alleys full of working studios and informal galleries kept me in my glory for a few hours.  The kids and Chris hung in there and we played “pick your favorite painting” in each studio.  We had a nice chat with a couple we had seen on a boat in the harbor.  They were excited to hear about our trip and ended up finding us online.  Hi Jamie and Sandi!!!

When we entered the studio of E.J. Lafavour, Porter quickly noticed the fantasy paintings that covered one wall.  E.J. seemed thrilled to have a visit from children who were interested in learning about art, so she told them the history of her paintings and explained that she was publishing a book based upon them.  We told her about our trip and she was thrilled for us.   She insisted on taking a picture of us and told us she would write an article about us in GoodMorningGloucester, a well-read blog about the town’s happenings.  We had a great time with E.J. and were excited to see that she indeed wrote about us the very next day.  So here’s a shout out to our favorite Gloucester artist and all our new Gloucester readers who have joined us through GoodMorningGloucester!!!

We also toured a little woodworking shop on the water where they make Dories, which are small, wooden boats that epitomize the beauty of wooden boat construction.  The man who ran the shop gives classes in boatbuilding to the local high school students as an after-school club.  His grand-niece was in the shop, showing us around like a little mayor.  She was adorable and she and Reese explored the tiny, packed shop, which was full of all kinds of treasures.

feeling at home in gloucester

We got back in the dinghy to find the beach, the entrance to the Annasquam River, the greasy pole, and the Fisherman’s Memorial, which pays respect to all the Gloucester fishermen lost at sea since the 1600’s.  The greasy pole is a telephone pole that extends over the water at a height of about 20 feet.  Those who dare can walk out along it and jump off for a chilly swim.  At their annual festival, the pole is greased and a flag is placed at the end.  The first person to walk out and get it wins bragging rights for the year.

The Harbormaster had suggested that we might take the Annasquam River to Marblehead, but upon further inspection, we decided that the multiple drawbridges, the narrow channel, and the current made an outside passage preferable.

We went onto the beach and climbed up to the Fisherman’s Memorial.  We were sobered by the plaques that surrounded it, listing all the people who had been lost to sea in this tiny town.  Some years had an especially long list of names.  Our imaginations took hold as we pictured the terrible storms that must have raged in those years.  Fishing boats were a family affair, so some years listed up to ten people with the same last name.  It was hard to imagine the trauma of losing ten men in one family on one day and the agony of waiting and waiting for a return from sea that doesn’t happen.

Here were men who grew up on these waters, who knew them well, and yet were overcome by the power of the sea.  We have had lovely weather and seas so far, but I, too, know what the ocean can do and am filled with awe and respect.  I do not think of the sea as a power to dominate because the sea will always win with that perspective.  I like to think of sailing as borrowing the power of the wind as we move gently with the waves, sharing space and time with Nature for a few precious moments.

We decided we just had to have a fish dinner while in Gloucester, so we followed recommendations and ended up at Captain Carlo’s.  We ate outside on the deck, with the fishing wharf right behind us.  The fish literally comes in to the wharf, gets sorted, and is delivered straight to the restaurant several times a day.  The dinner was delicious and the view of Patronus out in the harbor was a special treat.  A quick stop at Walgreen’s for supplies and we went back to the boat for the night.

The next morning, I went for a run.  I ended up going past the memorial again.  A little further up is a memorial for the wives and children of those lost at sea.  The statue was beautiful and lonely.  Before we left Gloucester, Chris ran into town for a t-shirt.  We had met so many lovely people and wanted to remember this stop.  As we pulled away from the mooring, the assistant Harbormaster pulled up alongside us.  We had requested a pumpout, but the HM didn’t think they could fit it in, so we had started to leave the harbor.  In fact, the HM had rushed around to make sure he got to us in time.  He did the pumpout as we floated alongside his boat.  We left Gloucester even more impressed with the people who make it their home and look forward to returning someday soon.

“But you must at all times remember that the power of the sea is greater than anything else on earth; and that although many fleets have sailed over it, not one has conquered or harnessed it, and no one ever will.”  -Uffa Fox

Well, we’ve been having so much fun that I find myself six ports behind on our blog!  I would love to share our experiences about each of these wonderful places, so bear with me as I catch up.  The past few nights, we have been on remote islands off the Maine coast, with no access to WiFi. I will continue to catch up on our posts and will upload them when we get back to civilization.  Please note some changes to our website, including new pages (The Floatplan is Up!!!) and new features on the sidebar (“Like” our Facebook fanpage, conwaysailors, and get real-time pics and status updates).

On July 14^th, we left Wellfleet, on Cape Cod, and headed northwest across the bay towards Marblehead, Massachusetts.  I was excited about this port for two reasons.  First, but not even close to most important, I was keen on visiting this historic yachting community.  It certainly lived up to its reputation, with over 3,000 boats in the harbor, five or more yacht clubs, and quaint street after street of perfectly restored maritime/colonial homes.

But most importantly, our friends Keith, Liz, Adam, and Sarah Bernhardt were planning on visiting us there from Boston.  Keith was my very first friend in this whole world and we are still connected in a very special way.  We grew up in Ronkonkoma, New York and attended Cornell together.  His wife Liz is an incredibly talented artist and I have liked her very much since Keith first described her to me, years and years ago, when they first met.  They have two gorgeous children, who are delightful.

the kids play down below while we get ready to leave the mooring

But first we had to get out of Wellfleet, which had to throw us one last wrench.  As we pulled up anchor in the Outer Harbor (remember this?  With 100 feet of chain out?) the windlass stopped working.  The windlass is the machine that cranks up or down the anchor chain so you don’t have to do it by hand.  Chris figured out that a nut was loose and it started working again, but not before I had gotten covered in mud, which was splattering off the chain and all over me.

We were expecting rain, but it cleared up quickly.  As we passed Provincetown, we started looking for whales, but all we saw was the high-speed ferry.  It was pretty cool, though.  That thing hauls!  We had a long motorsail that day, so the kids played “dots”, napped, and read.  Chris tried working on the macerator in the head.  I “drove” the boat (watched for lobster pots) and cleaned the teak.  I promise you that before the year is through, I will finish a post without telling you how I cleaned the teak!

can you find Boston in this picture?

At 1545, I shouted “Land Ho!” when I spotted the Boston skyline.  You would have thought I was Erik the Red, discovering North America for crying out loud.  But it was neat to see land after looking at just the sea for a few hours.  Who knows what kind of shenanigans I’ll be pulling when we spot Bermuda after 5 days of sailing!!!  Forty-five minutes later, we approached Marblehead and I hailed the Boston Yacht Club to get the number of the mooring I had reserved for the next two nights.

Chris shaves his head in Marblehead!

We moored at 1730, after a friendly, post-racing crew overheard us on the VHF and pointed the way to our BYC mooring.  Seeing them on the boat, enjoying the après-racing scene was nostalgic.  The Saturday races had just finished and boats were coming in to the harbor, folding sails, drinking beer, listening to music, and feeling festive.  We got on the launch and met another racing crew, who enjoyed hearing about our trip.  They were extremely nice and offered tips on getting around Marblehead.  One of our new friends even offered to have us as guests to his yacht club to use the pool!

see our groceries on the side? we had to carry that all back to the dinghy!

At the BYC, we took showers and headed back to the boat to make dinner.  It was a late night, but we decided to take the dinghy to town to the nearby grocery store, which just so happened to have an ice cream store next to it.  Buttercrunch ice cream for me, which is in my top 10.   That flavor brings me back to those Long Island after-school-concert celebrations at Friendly’s.  We may have gone a little overboard on the groceries, as it took all five of us to carry the bags and cases of water back to the dinghy a few blocks away!

Finally it was time to welcome the Bernhardt’s to our boat.  I ran over to our friend’s yacht club to do laundry and some laps and Chris picked up the Bernhardt family at the wharf.  The kids instantly bonded and started playing cards while we adults caught up with one another.  They have been busy with life as well and we just chatted and chatted until we realized that we were all very hungry for lunch.  We had lunch at BYC, took a walk to a very cool park right on the water, and headed for the ice cream store.  Coffee shake this time.  Good thing I’ve been swimming so much!

water balloon fights at the Boston Yacht Club

taking a 3 second break from all the fun

A 40-year friendship…

fresh muffin delivery on Monday morning

We sadly took our leave of our friends.  It’s never enough time.  We would have loved to go to their house and see how they have renovated it.  We would have loved to watch our children playing together, just like Keith and I did when we were young.  Liz and I could talk for hours about the creative process, being artists and writers, and raising children.  But it was time to get back to the boat to make dinner.  Chris and the kids went for a quick swim while I did some more laundry at the yacht club.  The next morning, Chris surprised us with muffins from the bakery for breakfast before we left for Gloucester.

Marblehead was a lovely port and I would go back in a heartbeat.  I could wander the meandering, narrow streets for hours, drooling over the houses (and texting pictures of them to Steffanie), admiring the seaside hydrangeas, and seeing what else it has to offer.